[onetwo_threefour]

While I agree that being Olympic Champion is the ultimate goal, I think that atheletes and their countries can be justifiably proud of being second or third best in the world.

I know I'm still proud of having the 5th fastest 400m freestyle swim for my age group in the City of Toronto when I was 11. Should I be proud of that, probably not, but I am because it took a lot of work to even get to that final and there were an awful lot of other kids in swim clubs that didn't make that meet, let alone the finals. I don't see celebrating silver or bronze as celebrating mediocrity, that's pretty damn close to the best in the world and I'm pretty happy with every medal. (Although gold sure is nice)